The Hindu Business Line : Indian IT sector unfazed by proposed H1-B Visa Bill

INDIA'S software industry just yawned at the new Bill that seeks to abolish H1-B visas as it is unlikely to ever get enacted, but such moves symbolise the growing intolerance in America towards Indian techies, experts say.

The Bill introduced on July 9 by Mr Tom Tancredo, a Republican Congressman from Colorado, has not given rise to any kind of concern among Indian software firms and industry associations who do not think H1-B visas can be eliminated completely as proposed by the Bill.

"In India everybody knows about this Bill, but nobody in the US knows about it," quipped Mr Sunil Mehta, Vice-President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), which has been aggressively lobbying in the US against many anti-outsourcing Bills that are being moved by American politicians.

Mr Mehta said given the substantial contribution to the US economy by immigrants under the H1B programme to the US economy - especially the high-tech workforce - the US policy makers will act fairly towards such a move.

"I don't think anybody is expecting the abolition of the H1-B visa programme," he told Business Line, when asked how Nasscom members reacted to the introduction of the new Bill.

Infosys Technologies said it would not comment on the development since it is in a silent period due to the crucial stages of an ADR issue. Tata Consultancy Services said it too would not like to comment on the matter. "Suffice to say, there have been many similar proposals in the past. It is a matter of speculation, and to comment on the speculative issues is best avoided. We will take it as it comes, a TCS Spokesman said.

The recent moves to bring in curbs on H1B visas is just a proposal and will have to go through scrutiny of multiple layers in the US decision making system. Since it will have repercussion on various sectors, not just IT services space, this will kick up a global debate as many other countries would also be impacted, Mr Hari P., Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, said.

"This is too premature to comment on what impact this will have. From our understanding of the US Government functioning, they will look at the development form various perspectives before taking a decision. For the US as a supporter of free trade all these years, I believe bringing such curbs will be subjected to intense debate. If you look at some of the efforts to bring in curbs against outsourcing, like the NJ Bill, they are all debated very intensely. The advantages of having such visas far outweigh the disadvantages, which the authorities, I am sure are aware of," Mr Hari said.

"It is not at all a concern," Nasscom's Mr Mehta said. In the recent past many senators introduced Bills in the US trying to curtail outsourcing to countries like India and restrict issue of visas on the grounds that jobs are being moved out of US, leading to rising unemployment.

According to Mr Vijay Anand, Director, Business Development of Sulekha.com, a portal that is actively campaigning against Mr Tancredo's Bill, it is just another instance of a minority community, which has no voting rights, being targeted in the US.

"There is a perception in the US that Indian-Americans are responsible for unemployment. The politicians are targeting a minority community that is not organised and has no voting rights to show that they have political clout," Mr Anand said.

That the US elections are slated for 2004 also add to the belligerence of politicians who what to show off that they are doing something for the locals, he said.

Indian's account for a large chunk of H1-B visas issued every year. According to Nasscom, out of 77,000 H1-B visas issued last year, 33,000 visas were obtained by Indians. From this October onwards, the total number of H1-B visas are being lowered to 65,000 from the current cap of 1.95 lakh.

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